Maharashtra: Health department stresses on use of vaccine doses nearing expiry

Pune: The state health department has directed the district administrations to administer the Covishield and Covaxin doses nearing the expiry date on priority.

According to the state records, over 27 lakh doses of Covishield and 5,890 doses of Covaxin are slated to expire by September. A total of 27 lakh doses of Covishield and 34 lakh doses of Covaxin doses are currently available in the state.

Taking this into count, Dr Nitin Ambadekar, the additional director of health services, sent a letter to the district offices, advising them to ensure that all the doses nearing expiry by the end of September were used during the 75-day “Covid Vaccine Amrut Mahotsav”, which teed off on Friday.

Ambedkar’s letter stated that districts would have to ensure that no vaccine was wasted. It also said the demand for any extra vaccine doses should be made in advance.

The state health department advised the district health offices and the civic bodies to plan the usage of their vaccine stock depending on the availability and the demand during the “Covid Vaccine Amrut Mahotsav”, wherein adults would get free precautionary doses at government vaccine centres.

On the first day of the Covid Vaccine Amrut Mahotsav, a total of 9,037 precautionary doses were administered in the Pune district till 5pm and 1,02,692 doses were given in the state.